Reports have it that the St. Louis Cardinals have reached a deal with free agent pitcher Bud Norris.
The St. Louis Cardinals have been on the continual search this off-season to build up their depleted bullpen. As of recent reports, Bud Norris is their latest free agent signing to try to do just that after signing him to a one-year deal pending a physical.
Bud Norris, entering his age 32 season, will be in contention as a possible late inning reliever for the redbirds. Last season, he won the job as closer for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and posted one of the best seasons of his career until a knee injury finally crippled his strong season.
In 2017, he collected 19 saves in 23 opportunities resulting in him collecting 6 losses on the season. It should be worth noting that this was his first full season as being part of the bullpen instead of in the starting rotation.
Looking a little deeper at the game logs for Bud Norris a year ago, he had a pushed a 2.23 earned run average all the way into July 22nd. Interestingly enough, by that time he was already dealing with painful inflammation in his knee. It was reported he sustained the knee troubles in May and pushed through the end of the season with it. Clearly though, by August there is strong evidence he was not the same pitcher because of it.
He finished the season losing the closer’s role with the club and his earned run average jumped to 4.21 for the season. Inflated a bit for how well he pitched the majority of the season. Overall a year ago he pitched a total of 62 innings, giving up only 29 runs, and collected 74 strikeouts. Slightly one strikeout per inning is a fairly good ratio.
The outlook for his role in 2018 for the St. Louis Cardinals is hard to determine. There are quite a few question marks surrounding Bud Norris. Can he stay healthy for a full season and can he be a productive bullpen piece he was for part of a season ago?
Next: Cards considering Reyes as closer
This is a classic St. Louis Cardinals front office management move. Bud Norris is a veteran player looking to establish himself with little cost to the team financially. Also, analytically looking into projections with Bud Norris he does very little to affect the team in that regard, so he is sort-of a safe bet to go with. Time will tell how this signing plays out, but it is possible they found a diamond in the rough.